A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange Internet site on Oct. 1, in Washington, D.C. / Karen Bleierk/AFP/Getty Images

Written by

Jack Gillum and Julie Pace

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Crammed into conference rooms, some programmers building the Obama administration’s health insurance website were growing increasingly stressed. Some worked late into the night, energy drinks in hand. Others rewrote computer code repeatedly to meet what they considered last-minute requests for changes from the government or other contractors.

As questions mount over the website’s failure, interviews and a review of technical specifications revealed a complex system put together by harried programmers who pushed out a product that congressional investigators said was tested by the government, but not by private developers with more expertise.

Meanwhile, the White House said today that President Barack Obama’s longtime adviser Jeffrey Zients will provide management advice to help fix the system. “We’re engaged in an all-out effort to improve the online experience,” said press secretary Jay Carney.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a post on HealthCare.gov that her department is bringing in more experts and specialists from government and industry, including top Silicon Valley companies.

Project developers for the health care website — who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared they would be fired otherwise — said they raised doubts among themselves about whether the site could be ready in time.

A review of diagrams revealed the system’s complexity. Insurance applicants have a host of personal information verified, such as income and immigration status. The system connects to other federal computer networks, including those at the Social Security Administration, IRS, Veterans Administration and the Peace Corps. The government spent at least $394 million in contracts to build the federal health care exchange and the data hub.

The online system was envisioned as a simple way for people to comparison-shop among health insurance plans offered in their state, pick their preferred coverage and cost, and sign up. For many, it has not worked out that way.

Just weeks before the Oct. 1 launch, one programmer said, colleagues tried to patch bugs in computer code. Unresolved problems led to visitors experiencing cryptic error messages or enduring long waits trying to sign up.

Monday at the White House, Obama acknowledged technical problems that he described as “kinks in the system.”

“The problem has been that the website that’s supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody,” the president said. “And I think it’s fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to conduct an oversight hearing Thursday.